Arnold Laven

Birth : 1922-02-23, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Death : 2009-09-13

History

Arnold Laven was an American film and television director and producer. He was one of the founders and principals of the American film and television production company Levy-Gardner-Laven. Laven was a producer of, among other things, the long-running western television series The Rifleman and The Big Valley. He also directed motion pictures, including Without Warning!, The Rack, The Monster That Challenged the World, Geronimo, Rough Night in Jericho, and Sam Whiskey. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laven directed dozens of episodes of television series, including episodes of Mannix, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, The Six Million Dollar Man, Fantasy Island, The Rockford Files and CHiPs.

Movies

Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes
Director
When fugitive human astronaut Virdon is shot, his chimp companion Galen must charm an old flame into accepting that a book on human surgery is no hoax. Meanwhile, their friend Burke is captured by the ape authorities and is to be brainwashed by a brilliant ape scientist named Wanda. [The fourth of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "The Surgeon" and "The Interrogation"]
Back to the Planet of the Apes
Director
Astronauts Pete Burke and Allan Virdon crash on Earth in the far future and are captured by the apes. The men befriend a chimp named Galen who helps them to escape. In the hopes of finding a way to get back to their own time, the astronauts search for a computer in an eathquake-threatened city, with which they will be able to access their flight records. [The first of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "Escape from Tomorrow" and "The Trap"]
Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love
Director
Pilot for a proposed television anthology series with stories about love, either dramatic or comedic. In this pilot, there were three different segments: in the first, a computer falls in love with its programmer; in the second, a World War II vet falls in love with a murderer; in the third, a woman falls in love with a penniless painter.
The Honkers
Producer
An over-the-hill rodeo champion is so self-centered that he ignores his wife, son, and best friend.
The Hunting Party
Executive Producer
A ruthless rancher, and his gang, use extremely long range rifles to kill the men who kidnapped his wife.
Underground
Producer
An American intelligence agent attempts to kidnap a top Nazi general.
Sam Whiskey
Producer
Sam Whiskey is an all-round talent, but when the attractive widow Laura offers him a job, he hesitates: he shall salvage gold bars, which Laura's dead husband stole recently, from a sunken ship and secretly bring them back to the mint before they are missed. But how shall he manage to get several hundred pounds of gold into the mint without anyone noticing?
Sam Whiskey
Director
Sam Whiskey is an all-round talent, but when the attractive widow Laura offers him a job, he hesitates: he shall salvage gold bars, which Laura's dead husband stole recently, from a sunken ship and secretly bring them back to the mint before they are missed. But how shall he manage to get several hundred pounds of gold into the mint without anyone noticing?
The Scalphunters
Producer
Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegades that killed them.
Clambake
Producer
The heir to an oil fortune trades places with a water-ski instructor at a Florida hotel to see if girls will like him for himself, rather than his father's money.
Rough Night in Jericho
Director
The only business in the Wild West town of Jericho that corrupt sheriff Alex Flood doesn't control behind the scenes is the stagecoach owned by tough-willed widow Molly Lang and her right-hand man, Hickman. Former marshal Dolan, recently hired by Lang and Hickman as a driver, wants to stay out of the mess, but when he sees Flood's henchman Yarbrough assault Lang, he steps up to fight the corruption.
The Glory Guys
Producer
Though a fictionalized Western based on George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the film is almost a generic war story covering the enlistment, training, and operational deployment of a group of recruits that could take place in any time period.
The Glory Guys
Director
Though a fictionalized Western based on George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the film is almost a generic war story covering the enlistment, training, and operational deployment of a group of recruits that could take place in any time period.
Geronimo
Producer
In 1883, the Apache Indians lead by Geronimo reluctantly surrender to the attacks of American and Mexican troops, in exchange for a territory and food for their warriors. Soon though, Geronimo escapes the camps and declares war against the Americans.
Geronimo
Story
In 1883, the Apache Indians lead by Geronimo reluctantly surrender to the attacks of American and Mexican troops, in exchange for a territory and food for their warriors. Soon though, Geronimo escapes the camps and declares war against the Americans.
Geronimo
Director
In 1883, the Apache Indians lead by Geronimo reluctantly surrender to the attacks of American and Mexican troops, in exchange for a territory and food for their warriors. Soon though, Geronimo escapes the camps and declares war against the Americans.
Anna Lucasta
Director
Anna Lucasta has been walking the streets in San Diego since being thrown out of home, at 19, by her alcoholic father, Joe. She's estranged from her family, but when her father and brother-in-law see greedy potential in an arranged marriage to affluent Rudolph, Anna is called back home. Old wounds have hardly healed, though. Just as Anna starts to feel for Rudolph, Danny, an old friend, returns to make life difficult.
Slaughter on 10th Avenue
Director
A rookie assistant DA is assigned to investigate the murder of a longshoreman, killed for exposing gangster involvement on the piers, and meets up with a "code of silence" amongst all potential witnesses.
The Vampire
Producer
A small town doctor mistakenly ingests an experimental drug made from the blood of vampire bats which transforms the kindly medic into a bloodthirsty monster.
The Monster That Challenged the World
Director
Giants Mollusks are released from the earth by an earthquake and start killing people.
The Rack
Director
Army Captain Edward Hall returns to the US after two years in a prison camp in the Korean War. In the camp he was brainwashed and helped the Chinese convince the other prisoners that they were fighting an unjust war. When he comes back he is charged for collaboration with the enemy. Where does loyalty end in a prison camp, when the camp is a living hell?
Down Three Dark Streets
Director
An FBI Agent takes on the three unrelated cases of a dead agent to track down his killer.
Vice Squad
Director
A Los Angeles police captain (Edward G. Robinson) ties the case of a slain policeman to a bank robbery, all in a day.
Without Warning!
Director
Police track a serial killer.
Teresa
Script Supervisor
An Italian war bride has problems dealing with her husband's possessive mother.
The Scar
Script Supervisor
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
Mickey
Script Supervisor
A pretty, tomboyish teenager comes of age in an American small town.
Death Follows a Psycho
Director
Private eye Wade Griffin finds himself in an intense stand-off with a "human time-bomb", who is holding four people hostage and will kill them all unless Griffin delivers the person that the bomber really wants dead.